Journalist threatened with arrest for ‘demanding to interview Buhari’ in London

Some security staff at the Abuja House, London, on Sunday called the police to arrest Tunde Oyedoyin, a correspondent of Guardian, who visited the place and demanded to see President Muhammadu Buhari and possibly interview him.

Abuja House has been Buhari’s residence since he began his UK vacation. According to the correspondent, when he told a member of staff that he had come to see the president, his response was: “As far as I’m concerned, he’s not here.”

The journalist said at 2:50pm, a black Mercedes jeep arrived, and the occupant sitting by the driver rolled down the glass and asked him, “Why are you here?”

The reporter said after identifying himself and stating his mission, he was told: “He’s not here, you can’t see anybody here.

Oyedoyin said when he arrived just a few minutes past 1pm, and asked to speak to the high commissioner, he was directed to Nigerian House at Northumberland Avenue.

He said 20 minutes later, when a man and a teenage-looking girl wearing glasses pressed the buzzer, a security officer opened the gate for the duo.

Oyedoyin said he inquired: “Is that the daughter of the president?” and the staff replied: “I don’t know.”

The reporter said when he pressed the buzzer about five minutes later, the security man sounded angry and threatened to call the police. “You should realise this is a private place and I will call the police,” he quoted the security guard as saying.

Oyedoyin said when he made it clear that he was standing outside a public place, the guard said:” l won’t speak to you again.” He said the security operative made good his threat of inviting the police.

According to Oyedoyin, two police officers were called in, and when they arrived, they took his name and date of birth, and subsequently made a check on the national database.

Efforts made to reach the Nigerian high commission to hear its own side of the story did not yield the

desired result, as calls to a telephone line found on the commission’s website did not go through.

Buhari was scheduled to return to the country on February 5 – at the end of his 10-day vacation – but he extended the time indefinitely, citing advice from his doctor that he should wait to get his test results as the reason for his decision.

Shortly after the president left on January 19, the rumour mill was agog that he had died, but the presidency deployed some strategies like releasing pictures of Buhari receiving guests in London.

High profile politicians have visited the president in UK.

Some of them are Daisy Danjuma, a former senator; Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun state governor; Bisi Akande, former governor of Osun state; Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC); Senate President Bukola Saraki, and House Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

Buhari transferred power to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo before he left for the UK.

Nigerians in South Africa raise fresh fears over violent attacks

The Nigerian community in South Africa said on Monday, February 20, that some expatriates were receiving calls threatening more attacks against their homes and businesses.

Some South Africans had launched attacks against Nigerians and other foreign nationals in Pretoria West on Saturday, February 18. No fewer  than five homes and businesses belonging to Nigerians were burned by a mob.

Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, President, Nigeria Union, South Africa, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that some Nigerians received calls asking for payment to protect their homes and businesses.

“Some Nigerians and other foreign nationals in Pretoria West now live in fear. Some have started packing their belongings for fear of more attacks.

“They confirmed to the union that some South Africans were calling and threatening to unleash more mayhem against them. “The callers asked for money to be spared the attacks. “The union is worried about the development because the South African police are  yet to arrest those who perpetrated last Saturday`s attacks,” he said.

According to Anyene, the union has pleaded with Nigerians to take precautionary measures and remain law abiding. “We also urge the Federal Government to persuade its South African counterpart to  put in place measures to guarantee the safety of Nigerians,” he said.

Trial of 44 Suspects in Erdogan Assassination Attempt Begins in Turkey

A total of 47 supporters of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, living in exile in the United States, are charged with attempting to assassinate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the July 15 failed military coup, according to local media reports.

Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave their national flags and hold a portrait of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric with Turkish words that read: the Coup nation traitor, FETO (Feto is the nickname of Fethullah Gulen), during a pro-government rally at Kizilay main square, in Ankara, Turkey,

Right to Fair Trial Must be Respected in Turkey After Coup Attempt

 A trial of a group of 44 participants, charged with attempting to assassinate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the July 15 failed military coup, has started in the Turkish city of Mugla, local media reported Monday.

During the attempted coup, rebels attacked a hotel in the country's southwestern resort of Marmaris where Erdogan stayed. Erdogan managed to leave the place minutes before the arrival of the attackers.

According to the Anadolu news agency, a total of 47 supporters of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, living in exile in the United States, are charged in this case. Three, including Gulen, are on the wanted list in Turkey.The first hearing is ongoing in the conference hall of the Chamber of Commerce of Mugla, the case is being reviewed by a judicial panel for grave offences.

Flowers laid at the monument to pilots in the center of Lipetsk in memory of Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov of the Lipetsk Air Force Center, the commander of the downed bomber Su-24

© Sputnik/ Jurij Sorokin

Trial of Suspected Murderer of Russian Su-24 Pilot Begins in Turkey

The prosecutor has demanded to sentence each of the accused for at least six consecutive life sentences each under the Turkish penal code for attempting to kill the President, attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, crimes against the legislative body and the government, leading an armed terrorist organization, and intentional killing of an official.

The failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, left 248 killed and thousands of people wounded. The members of the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) are believed to be the organizers of the putsch and are being prosecuted by the Turkish authorities.

Following the coup attempt, the authorities arrested more than 41,000 people and fired or suspended over 100,000 believed to have links with FETO. Many of them are teachers, public servants and journalists.

Russian ambassador to UN confirmed dead

Vitaly Churkin, who served as Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations since 2006, “died suddenly” in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced. Churkin would have turned 65 on Tuesday.

The announcement “of the untimely passing away of Ambassador Vitaly Churkin this morning” was met with shock when it was delivered during a session at the UN headquarters.

“He was a dear colleague of all of us, a deeply committed diplomat of his country and one of the finest people we have known,” a UN official who delivered the news to her colleagues said. The moment of silence in Churkin’s memory was announced at the UN.

“He was an outstanding person. He was brilliant, bright, a great diplomat of our age,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RT, adding that the news of Churkin’s death was “completely shocking.”

Before he was appointed to represent Russia at the UN in May 2006, the diplomat served as ambassador to Belgium, ambassador to Canada, and liaison ambassador to NATO and the Western European Union (WEU).

In the 2000s he was ambassador at large at Russia’s Foreign Ministry, while in the early 1990s he served as the special representative of the Russian president to the talks on the former Yugoslavia.

Dont Attempt To Contest In 2019 Obasanjo Warns Buhari

Amidst the harsh economic recession allegedly orchestrated by the inability of the All Progressives Congress-led, APC, Federal Government to formulate sound economic policies, former President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s, Ex-Aide, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari, against contesting for president come 2019.

His Ex-Aide, who on Friday evening spoke through his former Chief Press Secretary, Alex Nwokedi, called on Buhari not to think of returning to power.

Nwokedi, who is the immediate past Chairman, Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, however, urged Nigerians to support the President to complete his current tenure.

Speaking with Vanguard, the Traditional Ruler said, “President Buhari has no programme. He had only one ambition. He wanted to be President, and by the grace of God he is now the President.

“There is one adage which says that, ‘When a child wakes up in the night, he is looking for something. And when he sees it, he will go back to sleep’.

“The economy is not just bad, but very bad. We have no alternative than to support him for the remaining years he has to spend.

“The economy is very bad, and Buhari should give way for somebody who has a plan, to come and take care of the economy. What I mean is that Buhari has no programme.

“He has got what he has been awake to get, which is to be President of Nigeria, and after his four years, he should give way for somebody who has a programme to come in and restructure Nigeria economically and geographically.”

On what other programmes should the government put in place after the current diversification and fiscal policies, it claimed will be used to resuscitate the ailing economy, Nwokedi said, “Ask him, what programme does he have? I have told you agriculture, and it is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, right from time immemorial. Oil is just a recent thing.

“If we develop agriculture, you will see how less concerned we will naturally become about oil.

“Part of the problem, is that Buhari has to be fair to all ethnic groups in Nigeria, and not to pay attention to only one. It is not only when you embezzle money that they say you are dishonest. Buhari could be honest, but he is not a fair man”.

Biafra leader: “I will destroy Nigeria with the truth”

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is firing back at reports that its leader Nnamdi Kanu said he will bomb Nigeria, clarifying instead that the leader intended to destroy the existence of Nigeria with the truth until an independent Biafran state is restored.

The group confirmed that Kanu, director of dissident separatist station Radio Biafra, despite outraging many Nigerians with his latest statement, particularly in regards to his prediction on the current crises the country is facing, will continue to tell the world the truth of these happenings.

A statement by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary Emma Powerful said that Kanu “who was born in the thick of the civil war waged against his Biafran people, affirmed that the contraption referred to as Nigeria only exists today because the Europeans colonial masters said so, insisting that it was not created by God, the natural way all nations on earth came into existence.”

He continued that the country was “conceived in the heart of man to serve a purpose for which nation states were not and could not be designed for. Nigeria is responsible for the untimely death of over 3.5 million murdered between 1966-70 in the name of preserving the territorial integrity which is in effect as a fraud,” quoting Kanu.